Suppression of an elicited skin resistance response using punishment: a discrimination design, with a repeated amplitude sampling method of data analysis

Abstract

The experiment reported here was conducted to test the effectiveness of punishment in reducing the amplitude of an elicited skin resistance response (SRR). This experiment was prompted by the statement in some textbooks that autonomic responses can be conditioned using classical conditioning procedures, but cannot be modified using other conditioning procedures (Kimble, 1961; Skinner, 1938). The review of the literature indicates that there is ample evidence that the skin resistance response can be conditioned by procedures other than classical conditioning (e.g. positive reinforcement). However the effectiveness of some instrumental procedures in conditioning the SRR has not yet been adequately assessed. Testing the effectiveness of different instrumental conditioning procedures in modifying the SRR will permit more informed judgments on the effects of instrumental procedures. It will also throw some light on the question of whether it is appropriate to continue to regard autonomic and skeletal responses as being fundamentally different. The skin resistance response is a transient change in the electrical resistance of the skin. It has been studied by psychologists for nearly a century, under the names of "psycho-galvanic reflex", "galvanic skin reflex", "electro-dermal response", and more recently "skin conductance response", and "skin resistance response". The reason for psychologists’ interest in this response has changed over time. Initially interest was based on the belief that the resistance change could be used as a measure of emotion. Later researchers used the skin resistance as a measure of the subject's level of arousal or anxiety. As the skin resistance is a readily measurable example of an autonomic response, it has also been of interest to researchers who have been concerned with the processes of the autonomic nervous system.